SMS-Kürzel: How German Teens Shorten Their Text Messages

“Kürzel” is a short form for “Abkürzung,” which means abbreviation or short cut in German, but let’s talk about abbreviations or “KÜZ” instead of short cuts.

Can you decipher the following German text message abbreviations? Take a guess at their meanings.

When German teens send you a text saying “MAD,” they are neither mad at you, nor angry with you, they just want to say “Mag Dich,” “I like you – you are
alright!” If they want you to call them, you will receive “RUMIAN,” which means “Ruf mich an” – call me.

STIMST “Stehe im Stau” – They are blocked in a traffic jam, which happens much less often than in the US, where teens seem to drive everywhere, and all the
time after they’ve turned 16 (in Germany, Austria and Switzerland it’s only after 18). Or they do a quick FANTA “Fahre noch tanken” – will get some gas on
the way. Germans are always on time, haha, one of the biggest myths about Germany: KO10MISPÄ “Komme 10 Minuten spatter” (means “Coming 10 minutes later”),
more often it’s a KO45MISPÄ… and if you didn’t show up at all, you will receive a rather angry WZTWD “Wo zum Teufel warst Du?”, (where the h*** have you
been?)

If you meet someone you really like, it all starts with a “DAD” “Denk an dich,” (short for “Ich denke an Dich” (thinking about you), followed by a DD
“drück dich” (hug) and a HDL “Hab Dich lieb” (short for “Ich habe Dich lieb”) meaning “you are sweet”. If you are lucky you’ll get a HDGDL “Hab Dich ganz
doll lieb” (you are really sweet/cute/etc. A gender specific SMS-Kürzel which is mainly used by girls). If you are very, very lucky an ILD “Ich liebe Dich”
will show on your display (no need to translate that!!).

You might receive an “8tung” for “Achtung” (watch out), once you teachers are approaching while you are in the middle of doing something that you are not
supposed to do (no examples needed here, in this case teens are the same all over the world…)

After school ends at midday, they might be still well occupied: BIS “Bin im Stress” means “i am busy” or they start their free afternoons and meet friends.
AKLA is our “howdy?” or “ALles Klar?”. MAMIMA means “Mail mir mal” (email me), maybe to invite you for an Abendbrot. (so called Evening-bread, our word for
“dinner”). WASA does not refer to the nordic dried bread, which you might find on a dining table around 7pm, yes Germans have dinner rather early, in this
case it means “Warte auf schnelle Antwort” (“waiting for a fast answer”). DGGN stands for “Das geht gar nicht!” (that’s a no-go/just impossible) for
impossible behaviour or the totally wrong outfit. DDDR, nothing to do with DDR (the official German abbreviations for former East Germany) stands for
“Dreimal darfst Du raten” (“you can guess three times”) and means “isn’t that obvious”?

If someone wishes you a “Gute N8t”, it’s obviously the night or “die Nacht” like the number 8 (8 or “Acht” in nACHT or ACHTung, wow we Germans are sooo
creative, aren’t we?) Ach ja, sweet dreams turn into “ts” for “träum süß” (dream sweetly).

Teens do not use “mfg” – “Mit freundlichen Grüßen” (best regards), that is adult sms-code, as well as G&K or GUK for “Gruss und Kuss” (greeting and
kiss), far too old school for Germany’s next generation…

…but “btw”: German teenagers also master the English sms-codes such as lol, thx, c u – but are you ready now to use the German ones?